Abbott Laboratories plans to spend US$19.3 billion to buy St Jude Medical Inc in a cash-stock deal that aims to strengthen the medical device maker’s stake in cardiovascular care.
The combined company would offer devices in nearly every area of cardiovascular care, competing directly with industry leaders Medtronic Inc and Boston Scientific Corp.
It said the acquisition would blend St Jude’s pacemaker and implantable defibrillator business with Abbott’s focus on artery-opening stents and heart-repair products.
Wells Fargo analyst Larry Biegelsen said the deal makes sense because “there is very little overlap” between the companies’ offerings. The combined business would be better able to compete with larger companies in the device space, including Johnson & Johnson.
North Chicago, Illinois-based Abbott said St Jude shareholders would receive US$46.75 in cash and a portion of Abbott stock for each St Jude share. The total consideration adds up to about US$85 per share.
That represents a 37 percent premium to Wednesday’s US$61.95 closing price of St Jude shares.
The deal value totals US$25 billion based on Abbott’s recent stock price and assuming about US$5.7 billion in St Jude debt.
Abbott makes medical devices and generic drugs, but infant formula and nutritional beverages, which includes the Similac, Ensure and Pedialyte brands, make up the company’s biggest business.
In February, Abbott said it would spend US$4.8 billion on Alere Inc to expand its medical testing business.
St Jude’s expertise selling medical implants to hospitals should open new opportunities and help drive sales for Abbott’s devices, Leerink Swann analyst Danielle Antalffy said.
“Abbott’s device business has been underscaled, driving underperformance over the last few years,” Antalffy said in a note to investors.
Abbott said the boards of both companies had approved the deal for St Paul, Minnesota-based St Jude.
The companies expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter, but the acquisition must still be reviewed by regulators and approved by St Jude shareholders.
DIVIDED VIEWS: Although the Fed agreed on holding rates steady, some officials see no rate cuts for this year, while 10 policymakers foresee two or more cuts There are a lot of unknowns about the outlook for the economy and interest rates, but US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled at least one thing seems certain: Higher prices are coming. Fed policymakers voted unanimously to hold interest rates steady at a range of 4.25 percent to 4.50 percent for a fourth straight meeting on Wednesday, as they await clarity on whether tariffs would leave a one-time or more lasting mark on inflation. Powell said it is still unclear how much of the bill would fall on the shoulders of consumers, but he expects to learn more about tariffs
NOT JUSTIFIED: The bank’s governor said there would only be a rate cut if inflation falls below 1.5% and economic conditions deteriorate, which have not been detected The central bank yesterday kept its key interest rates unchanged for a fifth consecutive quarter, aligning with market expectations, while slightly lowering its inflation outlook amid signs of cooling price pressures. The move came after the US Federal Reserve held rates steady overnight, despite pressure from US President Donald Trump to cut borrowing costs. Central bank board members unanimously voted to maintain the discount rate at 2 percent, the secured loan rate at 2.375 percent and the overnight lending rate at 4.25 percent. “We consider the policy decision appropriate, although it suggests tightening leaning after factoring in slackening inflation and stable GDP growth,”
Meta Platforms Inc offered US$100 million bonuses to OpenAI employees in an unsuccessful bid to poach the ChatGPT maker’s talent and strengthen its own generative artificial intelligence (AI) teams, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said. Facebook’s parent company — a competitor of OpenAI — also offered “giant” annual salaries exceeding US$100 million to OpenAI staffers, Altman said in an interview on the Uncapped with Jack Altman podcast released on Tuesday. “It is crazy,” Sam Altman told his brother Jack in the interview. “I’m really happy that at least so far none of our best people have decided to take them
As they zigzagged from one machine to another in the searing African sun, the workers were covered in black soot. However, the charcoal they were making is known as “green,” and backers hope it can save impoverished Chad from rampant deforestation. Chad, a vast, landlocked country of 19 million people perched at the crossroads of north and central Africa, is steadily turning to desert. It has lost more than 90 percent of its forest cover since the 1970s, hit by climate change and overexploitation of trees for household uses such as cooking, officials say. “Green charcoal” aims to protect what
RSS